Chapter 1, Part 4

The Coconut Diet: The Secret Ingredient That Helps You Lose Weight While You Eat Your Favorite Foods
by Cherie Calbom

(Page 4 of 4)

HOW DID COCONUT OIL GET SUCH A BAD REPUTATION?

If coconut oil doesn't cause heart problems, but, in fact, promotes wellness, where did the notion come from that this oil is so very detrimental to our health? The answer involves a brief history lesson.

During World War II, when the Japanese occupied most of the Philippines and the South Pacific, supplies of coconut oil were cut off for several years. Americans were forced to turn to alternative sources of cooking oils, and this is when many of the polyunsaturated oils began to make their way to the marketplace.

Beginning in the 1950s, public opinion toward saturated fats in general, and then later toward coconut oil in particular, began to turn negative. The anti-saturated fat theory began in the 1950s, with the steep rise in heart disease. While heart disease probably caused no more than 10 percent of all deaths in the United States prior to the 1920s, by the 1950s it had risen to more than 30 percent. Researchers were looking for the cause of this new threat to health. Some researchers suggested that cholesterol levels were the problem, and that saturated fats raised cholesterol levels. One study examined the artery plaques found in American soldiers who had died in Korea. With high levels of cholesterol found in artery plaques, some researchers started looking at cholesterol levels found in various foods as a possible cause. Cholesterol is found only in animal foods such as meat, shellfish, cheese, eggs, and butter. Soon a “lipid hypothesis” formed that stated “saturated fat and cholesterol from animal sources raise cholesterol levels in the blood, leading to deposition of cholesterol and fatty material as pathogenic plaques in the arteries.” The traditional foods such as butter, eggs, and fat from meats were “out,” and the new vegetable oils were seen as hearthealthy replacements.

Research now shows that cholesterol levels in food have only a minor impact or no effect on blood cholesterol levels. Many researchers have rejected the lipid theory as a cause of heart disease.

The cause of the rapid rise of heart disease in the United States is now attributed to many other factors.

After World War II there were significant changes in the American diet, including the kinds of fats Americans began eating. Mary Enig offers insight:

Butter consumption was declining while the use of vegetable oils, especially oils that had been hardened to resemble butter by a process called hydrogenation, was increasing-dramatically increasing. By 1950 butter consumption had dropped from eighteen pounds per person per year to just over ten.

Margarine filled in the gap, rising from about two pounds per person at the turn of the century to about eight. Consumption of vegetable shortening-used in crackers and baked goods- remained relatively steady at about twelve pounds per person per year but vegetable oil consumption had more than tripled- from just under three pounds per person per year to more than ten.

COCONUT OIL BECOMES THE CENTER OF ATTACK

The saturated fats and cholesterol scare soon began to influence mainstream thinking, and before long certain groups started taking aim at the saturated fats found in coconut oil. At one time coconut oil was a significant part of the American diet. Suddenly, consumers were told to avoid anything with tropical oils-from theater popcorn to packaged snack foods.

In 1986, the American Soybean Association (ASA) sent out a “Fat Fighter Kit” to soybean farmers that encouraged them to write to government officials and food companies protesting the import of the highly saturated tropical fats of palm and coconut oils. And in 1988, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) published a booklet called the “Saturated Fat Attack.” Section III, “Those Troublesome Tropical Oils,” which encouraged manufacturers to put warnings on food labels against saturated fats. “There were lots of substantive mistakes in the booklet, including errors in the description of the biochemistry of fats and oils and completely erroneous statements about the fat and oil composition of many of the products,” writes Dr. Enig.

In 1988, Nebraska millionaire Phil Sokolof joined in the attack by taking out a full-page newspaper ad warning about the dangers of coconut oil. Sokolof was a recovered heart attack patient and the founder of the National Heart Savers Association. His newspaper advertising accused food companies of “poisoning America” by using tropical oils high in saturated fats. He ran a national ad campaign that attacked tropical oils as a health danger by showing a picture of a coconut “bomb” with a lighted wick and cautioning consumers that their health was threatened by coconut oil.

The tropical oil industry, centered in countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, did not have the financial resources to counter such negative media campaigns. However, many researchers who knew the truth about coconut oil tried to set the record straight, but public opinion was already stacked against saturated fats and tropical oils.

In June of 1988 researchers familiar with tropical oils were called upon to testify before a congressional hearing on tropical oils. “Coconut oil has a neutral effect on blood cholesterol, even in situations where coconut oil is the sole source of fat,” reported Dr. George Blackburn, a Harvard Medical School researcher who attended this congressional hearing.

Doctor Enig stated: “These [tropical] oils have been consumed as a substantial part of the diet of many groups for thousands of years with absolutely no evidence of any harmful effects to the populations consuming them.”

I have lost 56 pounds so far and have another 20 to 50 pounds to go. I know I'll get there. I have added coconut oil to a lowcarb diet that I've been on for 11 months. I am now off all prescription medications for high blood pressure, asthma, and allergies. My cholesterol levels have improved greatly-triglycerides were 940, and in three months have gone down to 247. I have energy again and can exercise. A year ago I could not walk around the mall without stopping to rest. Now I go day hiking with my hubby. The coconut oil fits perfectly with this way of eating. I have my life back! -Dabs

Dr. C. Everett Koop, the former surgeon general, even called the tropical oil scare “Foolishness!” and added, “but to get the word to commercial interests terrorizing the public about nothing is another matter.”

But despite their efforts, the voices of coconut oil defenders were drowned by mainstream media sources informed by members of the edible oil industry and members of the scientific and medical community, thus virtually banishing coconut oil to the margins of the American diet. But this is all about to change with the introduction of The Coconut Diet.

THE TRUTH CAN MAKE YOU TRIM

What we know today, but was not understood in the 1950s, is that hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils contain trans-fatty acids that have been linked to heart disease as well as other health problems. And vegetable oils, which are made up predominantly of LCTs, can cause us to gain weight.

Amid all the hype and hoopla about coconut oil-you now know the full story. Coconut oil is one of the reasons Asians and people of the tropics who eat a traditional diet that includes coconut are typically not overweight and don't usually suffer from diseases that plague Westerners. The secret of the tropics-the key to weight loss and vibrant health-is in eating the right kinds of fats, avoiding re- fined carbohydrates, and consuming a diet of whole foods. The 21-day program found in The Coconut Diet will help you to make dietary changes for the better and reap the benefits of improved health and weight management. You will lose weight on The Coconut Diet, and the program, meal plans, and recipes will help you put this diet into action.

Copyright © 2005 by Cherie Calbom and John Calbom

About the Author

Cherie Calbom is known to millions of fans as "The Juice Lady," and her infomercials are world-renowned. A registered nutritionist, Cherie Calbom has become one of America's foremost celebrity experts on "drinking your vitamins." Her previous books, Juicing for High Level Wellness and Vibrant Good Looks (Crown, 1999), and Juice Lady's Guide to Juicing for Life (Avery, 1992).